Re: [QLab] remote trigger

[ra byn (robin)]

On Mon, July 2, 2012 5:35 pm, wbdreynolds wrote:
> as always, i'm on a super tight budget, so the cheaper the better!
> thanks all for your help and suggestions,

"pretty foolproof and reliable" = MIDI in my mind.

Cheapest route I know of via MIDI that works out of the box would be this:

http://www.midisolutions.com/prodfsw.htm

OR

If you have the time to do some fab work, you could save a few bucks & use
one of these which would offer a lot more functionality if that is
desirable. For example, if you really want to allow the public to start
the exhibit over mid cuelist.

http://store.highlyliquid.com/collections/midi-controllers/products/midi-cpu

I have one of these but haven't gotten around to building it into a device
yet. PSU, some solder, a jack & it should work. I believe it even comes
pre programmed with a generic setup so you could just capture that. No
need for programming.

There have been some non midi options suggested recently. Maybe do a
search of the archives.

Best regards,

ra byn

[Jeremy Lee]

MIDI is perfect for this. You could also try the Griffin PowerMate. I've done some tests with this and AppleScript, and it seems to be reliable. But I've never used it in show conditions. And in a kiosk type installation, bullet proof reliability is key.

Jeremy Lee

- A thumb is a terrible speller. Please forgive my trespasses.

On Jul 2, 2012, at 6:35 PM, wbdreynolds <wbdre...@gmail.com> wrote:

i want to use qlab to run an installation - my qlab workspace will run some script cues and some sound cues in a sequence of autofollows - but the whole sequence needs to be triggered by members of the public pushing a button on the installation's display case. there is only one sequence of cues in the workspace, and once started they always run to the end. pressing the button will just play 'go' the first cue in the sequence.

i'll also need to find a way to make it so that pressing the button while the sequence of cues is running has no effect (hang on - i can do that by disarming the triggered cue on starting the sequence, and re-aring it at the very end).

i've never used any kind of remote with qlab before - does anyone have any suggestions of a good one to use?

midi may be an option, though i'd have to buy the licence. the mac wont be monitored while the exhibition is open, and it wont always be me who starts it up before doors open, so it needs to be pretty foolproof and reliable! i'd like it to work even if qlab isn't the active window on the mac.

as always, i'm on a super tight budget, so the cheaper the better!

thanks all for your help and suggestions,

will

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[Charles Coes]

There is always the 'cut open a keyboard to make a custom trigger' route.  

annoyingly narrated video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3NxQ60E72k

Then just use a key trigger.

[ra byn (robin)]

On Mon, July 2, 2012 8:24 pm, Charles Coes wrote:
> There is always the 'cut open a keyboard to make a custom trigger' route.
> annoyingly narrated video here:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3NxQ60E72k
> Then just use a key trigger.

But if the front app isn't Qlab for some reason, all bets are off. Yes?

ra byn

[Mike P]

If you're just looking to trigger a GO, and you're up to build something you might look into USB Buttons. People are building them for Photobooth apps to generate a 'Space' which would trigger QLab. There is a guy selling them, but he wan't $75.00 each and I suspect they could about $10.00 to make. Google USB Button and you'll see what I mean.

As ra byn points out, QLab would have to be the front app, but if this is a kiosk kind of thing, it would be anyway, right?

Mike Post
(601) 307-8657
mdp...@mac.com
http://mdpostdesign.com

[Jeremy Lee]

I did something like that about 15 years ago for the 1st set of Phone Plays at Humana! That was nuts...

Jeremy Lee

- A thumb is a terrible speller. Please forgive my trespasses.

[ra byn (robin)]

> On Jul 2, 2012, at 6:35 PM, wbdreynolds wrote:
>> midi may be an option, though i'd have to buy the licence. the mac wont
>> be monitored while the exhibition is open, and it wont always be me who
>> starts it up before doors open, so it needs to be pretty foolproof and
>> reliable! i'd like it to work even if qlab isn't the active window on
>> the mac.

Upon re reading the original post, it seems pretty clear that:

it needs to be "pretty foolproof and reliable"

it needs to work even if Qlab isn't the active window

Doesn't this rule out USB work arounds?

Not that we shouldn't talk about then but that MIDI is the only way to
have Qlab work without being the front app unless something custom &
programmed (and expensive) is used?

ra byn

[Jeremy Lee]

Like I said. Griffin PowerMate and AppleScript may be your key.

Jeremy Lee
- A thumb is a terrible speller. Please forgive my trespasses.

[sam kusnetz]

On Jul 2, 2012, at 6:54 PM, "ra byn (robin)" <ra...@rabyn.com> wrote:

> Not that we shouldn't talk about then but that MIDI is the only way to
> have Qlab work without being the front app unless something custom &
> programmed (and expensive) is used?

it needn't be expensive, but it probably does need to be custom. applescript solutions that open with the phrase 'tell application "qlab"' don't need qlab to be in the foreground in order to work, so it would easily work to have some kind of daemon-like app that listens for input from your hardware device, whatever it is, and responds by poking qlab to do something.

cheerio
sam

[Charles Coes]

If you're really worried about it, run a looping apple script that pulls the appropriate qlab workspace to the front every minute. it should work. right?

[sam kusnetz]

On Jul 2, 2012, at 7:22 PM, Charles Coes <ccoes...@gmail.com> wrote:

> If you're really worried about it, run a looping apple script that pulls the appropriate qlab workspace to the front every minute. it should work. right?

as long as you don't run that script from within qlab, yes. scripts are required to run on the main thread of the host application, so if you ran this perpetually looping script inside qlab you'd interfere with the rest of the functionality of your cue list.

-sam

[Jeremy Lee]

http://www.amazon.com/Griffin-Technology-NA16029-Multimedia-Controller/dp/B003VWU2WA/